The snowdrifts
were perfect, an unblemished expanse of white nothingness. A grazing herd was all that dotted the
landscape, the gray cloud bank and snow both helping to create the illusion
that they comprised all of existence.
The cat crouched completely still, then inched
forward……ever……so……slightly.

"Michael,"
the cat looked around, it saw noone; a second passed before it returned its
attention to the hunt.

It spotted an old looking animal, limping ever so
slightly. The cats eyes focussed on
this beast, everything else ceased to exist in its minds eye. A tensing of the muscles…and it was off!

The herd
immediately responded, they bolted in one swift explosion - their precision
gave the impression they were one animal and not many. The tiger easily aligned with its chosen and
pounced on its back, it went down with the barest of resistance. The strong jaws clamped on its neck,
strangling it quickly, but the taste…the blood tasted foul in the tigers'
mouth.

"…Michael…,"
the voice was more insistent this time.
The tiger looked about in alarm; it tried to spit out the blood but the
taste remained. Where the blood had
stained its fur the tiger felt dirtied, it couldn't breathe, something was
squeezing the air out of its lungs.

Blood flowed freely from the beasts' neck; the tiger
looked towards the desecration it had caused.
The dark red had stained the beautiful snow, but now something else also
caught the tigers' eye. Something was
wrong with its paws. No, they weren't
paws at all! They were hands, human
hands!

"Michael,
wake up!"

Michael
opened his eyes.

"It's
about time," the voice sounded hollow, it must have been coming out of a
machine. Michael tried to lift his
head, but dizziness forced him to put it back onto the metallic table.

"Don't
try to move too much, Michael. We have
to make sure there's been complete transference."

Complete transference? What the hell was going on here, and just
who was Michael?

Michael
tried to voice his questions, but he found that the sounds didn't come out
right. For a moment the fog seemed to
lift from his brain and he remembered that he was Michael. He couldn't remember what was going on but
he wanted answers. He tried to speak
again and almost bit his tongue; his mouth felt awkward, he couldn't tell why
it was working correctly...and then he saw his reflection. Directly opposite him was a large mirror,
dimly he recognized that it was a one-way mirror but that wasn't on his mind at
the moment. Staring back at him was an
animal, a large white tiger. For a
moment all he could do was stare back at the huge cat.

And
then he freaked.

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